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For the past twenty years, I have been working with healthcare organizations to implement technologies and improve business processes. During that time, I have had the opportunity to lead major transformation initiatives including implementation of EHR and ERP systems as well as design and build of shared service centers. I have worked with many of the largest healthcare providers in the United States as well as many academic and children's hospitals. In this blog, I will be discussing my experiences and ideas and encourage everyone to share your own as well in the comments.

Customers of many software solution have been nervously watching their solutions change hands, leading to increased concerns about the future of those products. Most recently, Allscripts surprised the industry first with the acquisition of Mckesson’s software solutions and now with the purchase of Practice Fusion. Last year, Hyland purchased the Perceptive and Brainware software products from Kofax, and now has purchased Mckesson OneContent from Allscripts. What do these changes mean for the industry and how should owners of these products react to their critical solutions changing hands?

Mergers and acquisitions are nothing new to the software industry. Epic, with its policy of developing entirely in-house and not acquiring other solutions, is the exception, not the rule. For most software companies, acquiring mature solutions to expand into a new market or to acquire customers is a standard method of growth. However, the recent rapid-fire acquisitions in the EHR and document imaging spaces have surprised many customers of those products.

McKesson announced the sunset of their Horizon clinical products years ago, positioning Paragon as its replacement. Yet that is only one of their package of solutions which includes OneContent for document imaging, STAR for billing, Relay Health for claims, Pathways for ERP, and others, many of which are all in use together at some hospitals. When Mckesson sold out its products to Allscripts, many questions came up about the future of those products.

When that deal was done, Allscripts gave the first hint of the product future by announcing that Mckesson Paragon would be their solution for smaller hospitals. That suggested the focus would be on Allscripts, not Paragon, as their go-forward solution. Now with the sale of OneContent to Hyland, Allscripts appears to be divesting itself of some of the Mckesson solutions. Others may soon follow.

Perceptive software was sold to Lexmark many years ago, which in turn acquired Kofax and then the solution was sold to its largest competitor, Hyland. Hyland, which is the developer of the Onbase product, now has purchased OneContent, and now has the customers of three large providers of document imaging solutions all under one roof.

How long will it make sense for them to continue to enhance three different competing solutions? While support may last for many years, there will be limitations to what they will enhance in these older solutions to avoid dividing up R&D resources and creating market confusion.

Allscripts now has a large number of older Mckesson solutions that it will have to evaluate and determine their future. While Practice Fusion may serve as a solution for smaller clinics who would not be candidates for Allscripts, Mckesson’s Paragon product is a direct competitor to Allscripts. Other solutions such as Pathways may simply not be worth further investment and may be outside of Allscript’s core mission.

Hospitals that currently have any solutions whose future is in doubt should start to evaluate their options and consider what is in their long-term interest. Each vendor will likely offer attractive paths to transition to their preferred solution, and it may be best to take advantage of those options early to give sufficient time to make the change.

Change is never easy. The employees of these organizations are going through significant change as are the users of these solutions. However, healthcare technology leaders should always be looking ahead to what’s next and be prepared for change – for change is the only thing that we are guaranteed.